LOS ANGELES — Normally, the screech of dragsters and the roar of NASCAR short-track racers dominate the air at Irwindale Speedway. But this week, the vehicles zipping around the track and parking lot ran almost silently.
Commercial vehicle brands and fleet operators congregated at the raceway to demonstrate and test the latest battery-electric trucks at the sprawling complex.
About 500 attendees from private companies, utilities and government agencies drove electric semi-tractors, box trucks, street sweeps, flatbeds and garbage trucks around the speedway parking lot and track — sometimes executing slow-speed overtakes in massive vehicles in an almost silent demonstration of green powertrain technology.